Harry Seidler AC OBE (1923–2006), architect and designer, was born in Vienna and completed his early architectural studies in England and Canada. He studied under Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer at the Harvard School of Design, and at Black Mountain College in North Carolina with Joseph Albers. He worked with Alvar Aalto in Massachusetts, with Breuer in his New York practice and with Oscar Niemeyer in Rio de Janeiro before travelling in Sydney in 1948 to design a house for his parents in Turramurra. Now known as the Rose Seidler House, it caused a sensation, introducing Bauhaus principles to Australia and winning the RAIA Sir John Sulman Medal for 1951. Soon commissioned to design houses for other clients, Seidler decided to stay in Australia and made a significant contribution to the architecture of Sydney, particularly in his Australia Square buildings (1961–1967), the MLC Centre (1972–1978) and Grosvenor Place (1982–1988). For each of these developments he was awarded the Sulman Medal. He also designed major projects around Australia and internationally, including the critically acclaimed Australian Embassy in Paris (1973–1977) overlooking the Eiffel Tower. From the 1970s onward Seidler held regular appointments as visiting professor at universities in Australia, the USA and Switzerland. Among his multitudinous awards are the RAIA Gold Medal (1976) and the Royal Institute of British Architects Gold Medal (1996). He received Australia's highest honour, the Companion of the Order of Australia, in 1987.
Gift of Penelope Seidler AM 2021
© Penelope Seidler AM
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